Scott Walker Confirms: Politics Is Local

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday appeared to confirm the saying that "all politics is local," noting that while Republicans fell short in the state in the presidential and Senate races, GOP candidates did retake control of the legislature from Democrats.

"In a night that didn't fare well statewide when it came to federal offices, we did extremely well when it came back to the state senate and the state assembly," Walker told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Wednesday night.

Republicans had hoped that Walker's own fiscal reform efforts in the battleground state of Wisconsin would help pave the way to victory for the GOP presidential ticket. But in the end, Walker said it was the state's Midwestern, independent streak that delivered Wisconsin to President Barack Obama and put Democrat Tammy Baldwin in the U.S. Senate.

"You know, it's odd, but it's a very Midwestern thing, certainly very specific to Wisconsin, as you know, in the sense that people are very independent here," Walker said. "They like to vote the person. They very much vote the person over just the party. And they want reformers.

"And for whatever reason," he continued, "they thought in the federal elections, at least statewide, they thought these two candidates on the Democrat side were the ones that stood up and got their attention."

Walker, however, noted that five of the state 's eight congressional seats did go Republican, including the district where Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential nominee, was re-elected to an eighth term in the U.S. House.

Republicans had hoped that Ryan's popularity in his own, traditionally working class district, would be easily transferred statewide. But Walker said again it was because voters are "very, very independent in the Midwest."

Walker pointed out that Ryan still won his own district by a wide margin even though he may have been "beat up a little bit and tarnished a little bit" by negative attacks in the presidential campaign.

"But I think in the end, Paul Ryan was stronger after this race than before," Walker said. "I think people saw the good, decent soul that he is. They saw the courage that he had. . .

"So, I think no matter what Paul Ryan wants to do, he's going to continue to be a leader here in America."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday appeared to confirm the saying that "all politics is local," noting that while Republicans fell short in the state in the presidential and Senate races, GOP candidates did retake control of the legislature from Democrats.